Waste dumped every 35 seconds in Blair's Britain

5.27.08pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 18th Oct 2005

Government figures released today show the shocking extent of fly-tipping which is taking place in England today. The analysis reveals:

o Nearly 900,000 incidences of flytipping reported in one year;

o This means waste is dumped somewhere once every 35 seconds;

o Nationally, the highest proportion of waste dumped is household waste (55% of the national total), almost half of which is in black bags;

o The most common place for dumping are highways (43%);

o Largest proportions of waste are dumped in Greater London (29%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (22%);

o Dumping on highways is much higher than the national average in Greater London (75% of all incidences there), whereas dumping in back-alleys are most common in the North East (43% of incidences there) and the North West (48%)

Commenting on these figures, Norman Baker MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, said:

"Tony Blair is presiding over a throwaway Britain at the expense of its environment.

"The Government has simply failed to get on top of the problem of fly tipping, as these figures demonstrate. There is a need for greater enforcement and effective prosecution over those who are destroying the countryside and the environment.

"The Government should establish an environmental court at the earliest possible chance."